


15 Minutes

by ViolaWay



Category: Video Blogging & YouTube RPF
Genre: Fluff, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-01
Updated: 2013-07-01
Packaged: 2017-12-16 18:33:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/865265
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolaWay/pseuds/ViolaWay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A lot can change in 15 minutes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	15 Minutes

“I’ll be ten minutes,” Carrie promised. “Behave yourselves, boys.”

_Tick, tick, tick._

Silence. Awkward silence. They hadn’t had a chance to discuss it yet; they’d been whisked off to Alex’s flat by Carrie just five minutes after Dan had panicked, run away and locked himself in the bathroom.

_Tick, tick, tick._

Maybe he should follow her. She’d told them to stay here (knew something was wrong, probably: wanted them to talk it out), but Dan couldn’t think of the right words. And Phil wasn’t saying anything, either. Because this was obviously Dan’s fault. So maybe he should just leave. Go to the bathroom. Hide.

_Tick, tick, tick._

A full minute hadn’t yet passed. Damn that clock, with its steady beat and its offensive judgement. There it was on the wall, staring at him. It wasn’t his fault.

_Tick…tick…tick…_

He could swear that the ticking was getting slower.

They were in Alex’s living room, standing awkwardly while Carrie searched for the DVD and Alex prepared snacks. Surely it couldn’t take ten minutes to find a single film. She’d be back soon. Dan sank down onto the sofa and continued determinedly avoiding Phil’s eyes. He felt the dip of the sofa next to him and tensed again.

_Tick, tick, tick._

“Look, I don’t know what you’re being so stupid about!” Phil said suddenly. “ _You_ kissed _me_!”

“You kissed me back!”

“You ran away!”

“Okay, okay. Whatever. Look, it doesn’t matter,” Dan said.

“I’m still not seeing the actual problem here. We kissed. It wasn’t a bad thing. Right?”

Dan let his head fall into his hands and sucked in a deep breath. Of course, Phil was right. Both of them were obviously okay with it (besides the whole running away and not talking about it thing).

“Maybe not,” he admitted.

“So…”

“So, we’re best friends. We shouldn’t let this change anything.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“Okay. Good.”

More silence. The sound of the clock, taunting. A resigned little part of Dan told him that after this, things would never be the same. He’d screwed it all up.

He might have thought time had stopped completely, if not for the steady metronome beat of the clock. He tapped his fingers along his thigh and watched the seconds tick away.

Three minutes gone.

Could it only have been that long?

“Why can’t it change anything?” Phil demanded abruptly.

“What?”

“Couldn’t it?”

“I don’t…”

“I mean, it wasn’t a bad kiss…”

“It was a bad idea…”

“Was it?”

Dan stared at Phil, and Phil looked back, blue eyes solidifying at the same rate as his resolve.

“Are you…?” Dan started to ask.

“Not if you don’t want…”

“No, I just…”

Just what? What was he thinking—feeling? What _had_ he been thinking? He’d never wanted to kiss Phil before. They were best friends, and best friends didn’t kiss. (Well, except for in fanfiction. And if Dan enjoyed reading the stories about him and Phil—if he sometimes searched out the ones with more adult content—then so what?) But now they’d kissed. He’d kissed Phil. His (male) best friend. It was impossible to ignore that.

“Dan.”

Phil’s eyes were searching him beseechingly, hesitantly demanding to know the thoughts that Dan was resolutely hiding.

“You’re a _guy_ ,” was what he eventually said.

“Well observed,” Phil responded dryly.

“But like…”

“Sexuality crisis?”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Dan admitted.

“So you liked it?”

“More than kissing a girl,” he replied.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“But I wouldn’t want to kiss…PJ, or Chris or someone. And I’m keeping my Hayley Williams poster. And I’m still kissing it goodnight.”

Phil laughed at him, and Dan bristled indignantly. Phil noticed (he always noticed).

“Sorry, it’s just – you’re being such a drama queen!” Phil giggled.

“Oh, right, so I’m gay and now you can make your jokes about me being a queen. Real mature.” Dan crossed his arms, but there was humour in his eyes.

“Not gay…bi?”

“Don’t presume to tell me what I can and can’t be!” Dan protested.

“Did you just quote Titanic to me?”

“Badly. Now, the fact that you know that makes me think _you’re_ gay,” Dan teased.

“Bi.”

“Right, yeah. Cool. So, how long have you known?” Dan asked.

“A while,” Phil replied, fluttering a hand vaguely like he always did when he was nervous.

“Tell me…” Dan whined.

“I don’t know.”

“You’re lying.”

“How could you possibly know that?”

“Ha!”

“I didn’t admit to anything!”

“Come on, I _know_ you’re hiding something,” Dan wheedled, pulling out his best puppy-dog eyes.

“Fine! But don’t laugh.”

“Pinky promise.”

“Dork.”

“You’re avoiding the subject,” Dan accused him.

“Day after I met you.”

“What?”

“That’s when I realised. The day after I met you,” Phil muttered.

“Fuck.”

“Yeah.”

“So…?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh.”

“Sorry.”

“No, I’m sorry. You don’t have to apologise,” Dan said quickly.

“Okay.”

The blanket of silence began to descend upon them once more, like a heavy weight: crushing them. Dan didn’t want to, but he let it. He had no idea what to say: there was too much to think about.

Phil was attracted to him. It seemed pretty obvious, now. And he was surprisingly okay with that. It wasn’t really an issue in itself, to be honest.

Then there was the fact that…Dan knew Phil was cute. He’d thought it enough times in the past, convinced himself that it was a platonic sentiment. He’d spent enough time (stalking) on Phil’s Tumblr tag to know that a lot of girls (and some guys) agreed with him.

Now they’d kissed.

Well, Dan had kissed Phil.

It had been just before they were about to leave for Alex’s; they were just waiting for Carrie to turn up. They’d been talking, with Phil backed up against the kitchen counter, and laughing at something Dan had just said. Leaning forwards just the tiniest bit. Dan had reached over, to get the wine bottle that they were planning to bring.

And then…

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Dan asked. “Before.”

“Uh, you admitted to having feelings for guys not—” Phil glanced at the clock. “—four minutes ago. How would you have reacted before? It would’ve ruined us—our friendship, that is.”

“No, just about being bi. Not…that. I wouldn’t’ve judged you. You know that,” Dan said.

“It would’ve been obvious; you would’ve been looking for it. As it was, a lot of our subscribers saw it. It was so, so obvious. God, you’re blind.”

“Carrie knows,” Dan stated.

“I told her. Sorry.”

“Why her?” Dan queried, confused. “Why not Chris or someone?”

“When she was doing the videos with us, and she stayed over, I was just…like, she’s really pretty. I was jealous even though nothing happened—nothing was going to. She asked why—not that I was being mean to her   !”

“You’re never mean.”

“…but she noticed. Woman’s instinct or whatever. So she knew.”

“Right.”

“We’re avoiding the real issue,” Phil pointed out reluctantly, and time slowed down again.

“Yeah, we are,” Dan agreed. “I don’t what to say. Are they deliberately leaving us alone?”

“Stop it.”

“Seriously, though.”

“They are. Alex doesn’t know why, though. Carrie promised.”

“When did you have time to organise this?” Dan demanded.

“You were still in the bathroom.”

“Ah. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“This. Anyone else would’ve tried to ignore it, but I…I needed this. We need to work it out.”

“What is there to…?”

“Don’t.”

“Dan, just say it.”

Deep breath.

“What if we tried…being together? In a relationship. Boyfriends.”

“Are you ready?”

“I don’t think I’ll ever know if I don’t go for it.”

“I don’t want to put pressure on you. I have, haven’t I? Because I said all that, now you feel like you have to…”

“Shut up,” Dan cut off Phil’s ramblings before they could get any more panicked. “ _I_ kissed _you_ , remember?”

“You…”

“I did and I wanted it. Come here.” Pause. Silence. “Please?”

On wobbling legs, Phil moved towards Dan. He remembered how Dan had looked when he’d pulled away the first time: eyes wild, movements jerky as he scampered away. It had broken his heart, but Dan still deserved a chance. He hadn’t meant to, after all.

Before he could say anything else, though, he was pulled into a tight hug, head pressed into Dan’s neck.

“Love you,” Dan murmured.

“Not in that way.”

“Not yet. Same thing though, innit, when all’s said and done. Still wanna kiss you.”

“Kiss me, then,” Phil challenged, pulling back.

So they did.

It was perhaps the most hesitant first (second, but no one wanted to count the first one) kiss that either of them had ever had. Dry, chapped lips and supressed smiles before quickly moving back and giggling like children.

They were onto their sixth kiss by the time Carrie came in.

“Oh my God, I left you alone for ten minutes!” she exclaimed, but there was a clear smile on her face.

Dan checked the clock.

“Actually, it was fifteen.”

A lot can change in fifteen minutes.

**Author's Note:**

> do you know how hard i worked to make this precisely 1,500 words long  
> tumblr: oopshidaisy


End file.
